Healthy Banana Chia Pudding

This Banana Chia Pudding is the best healthy vegan breakfast for banana lovers. A creamy banana pudding with layers of fresh coconut yogurt, banana slices, and peanut butter.

Table of contents

+ View More- View Less

What’s A Banana Chia Seed Pudding?

A chia seed pudding is a 3-ingredient healthy vegan breakfast made of chia seeds, plant-based milk, and sweetener.

It’s a healthy alternative to oatmeal, flaxseed pudding, or overnight oats recipes for breakfast. Also, chia puddings are paleo, grain-free, and low in carbs.

This banana chia seed pudding is a flavored version of the classic chia pudding, adding fresh banana pieces and a few spices to flavor it.

Expert Tips To Make The Best Chia Pudding With Bananas

Tip #1: The key to making a delicious banana pudding is choosing a fresh yellow banana. Don’t use ripe bananas in chia pudding, or the pudding will turn grey and dark in color, and the banana flavor will be too strong.

Tip #2: Add an acid ingredient like lemon juice or lime juice to prevent the bananas from darkening too much in the pudding.

Tip #3: Use white chia seeds if you can find them. They make the pudding color lighter.

Tip #4: Blend everything together to remove the lumpy texture of the seeds. It’s a technique I used in my chocolate peanut butter chia seed pudding.

Tip #5: If you didn’t blend the pudding, place the filled pudding jars in the fridge and refrigerate for 20 minutes. After that time, open the jar and give a good stir to avoid the seeds from clumping together or gravitating to the bottom of your jar.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Below, I will give you all my tips and tricks to make the best banana chia pudding. If you want to see the recipe measurements, jump to the recipe below!

The ingredients you need to make this healthy chia banana pudding are simple:

• Large Yellow Banana – Yellow with no or very few black spots on the skin to avoid a dark pudding.
• Chia Seeds – White or black chia seeds work well. I prefer the white chia seeds to keep the color of this banana chia pudding recipe light.
• Unsweetened Coconut Milk – Any plant-based milk will work here, but I found the flavor of coconut milk delicious with banana. You can also try oat milk or almond milk.
• Maple Syrup – This is optional, but if you have a sweet tooth, adding a touch of maple syrup brings out the sweeteners of the banana, and you will love the light maple flavor it also adds to the recipe.
• Vanilla Extract – It’s optional, but any pudding is better with a hint of vanilla!
• Lemon Juice to slow down the oxidation of the bananas.

Making The Pudding

1. First, prepare a tall glass mason jar with a volume of about 2 cups (500ml) with a sealed lid. Choose your method: the blended method requires a blender.

2. Otherwise, peel the banana and mash it roughly with a fork in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the remaining ingredients: chia seeds, plant-based milk, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and maple syrup. To make a banana peanut butter chia pudding, stir 2 tablespoons of drippy peanut butter in the jar.

3. Finally, transfer the pudding in the jars,. I like to create layers of banana chia pudding, coconut yogurt, and pieces of my no-bake peanut butter cookies. Close the jar’s lid, and keep in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight.

Banana Chia Pudding Flavors

Chia puddings are perfect for meal prepping a week of healthy vegan breakfast. They are also very versatile, meaning that you can add only 1 or 2 ingredients to this recipe to create amazing new flavors!

• Peanut Butter Banana Chia Pudding – Stir in 2 tablespoons of peanut butter in the jar along with the banana, maple syrup, and vanilla. Then, add almond milk and chia seeds.
• Banana Chocolate Chia Pudding – Stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the jar, just before adding the chia seeds.
• Banana Coconut Pudding – Use canned coconut milk, and add 2 tablespoons of unsweetened shredded coconut to the jar.

Serving Banana Chia Pudding

A chia seed pudding is even better served with lots of toppings.

Always add the toppings just before serving, not the day before. Below I listed my favorite vegan toppings that go very well with this banana chia seed pudding recipe.

• Nut Butter – Add a drizzle of your favorite nut butter on top of the pudding. Almond butter, cashew butter, or my favorite combo: peanut butter, banana, and chia!
• Fruits – Sliced bananas, fresh or frozen raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries. All these fruits go well with this chia banana pudding with almond milk.
• Nuts – Sprinkle roasted peanuts, sliced almonds, crushed pecans, or walnuts.
• Seeds – Add plant-based proteins to your pudding by adding some hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, or sesame seeds.
• Coconut – Toasted coconut flakes or shredded coconut marry very well with bananas.
• Chocolate – A drizzle of melted dark chocolate or chunks of 85% cocoa chocolate.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Healthy Vegan Breakfasts

I love starting the day with a healthy breakfast high in plant-based protein and fiber to feel full and stabilize my blood sugar level.

Below I listed my favorite easy vegan breakfast to try:

Chia Seed Pudding Recipe

Banana Almond Butter Smoothie

Flaxseed Pudding

Diabetic Overnight Oats

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Pudding

Banana Chia Seed Pudding

An easy, healthy vegan breakfast full of protein and a delicious, creamy texture.

4.86 from 34 votes

Print Review Save Saved!

Share on Facebook Pin Save in Email

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Total Time: 10 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Servings: 2 serves

Calories: 308.4 kcal

Author: Carine Claudepierre

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

• ▢ 1 Large Banana - yellow, soft but no black spots on the skin
• ▢ 1 cup Almond Milk - (note 1)
• ▢ ¼ cup Chia Seeds - (note 2)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Maple Syrup - (note 3)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ▢ 2 teaspoon Lemon Juice - (note 4)

Optional flavoring

• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Cinnamon - optional
• ▢ 2 tablespoons Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - optional for a peanut butter banana version!

Instructions

• Before you start, prepare a 2-cup glass mason jar with a lid. Clean, sterilize with boiling water, and dry.
• Place all the ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth, or if you don't have a blender, follow the instructions in the note 5.
• Transfer the blended banana pudding into glass mason jar, with layers of coconut yogurt and crunched vegan shortbread until you reach the top of the jar
• Close the jar, and place it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours to thicken, or overnight.
• Serve with layers of sliced banana and coconut yogurt or plain with toppings: toasted peanuts, a drizzle of almond/peanut butter, raspberries, etc.

Notes

Note 1: you can use any plant-based milk including soy milk, oat milk or coconut milk

Note 2: white chia seeds or black chia seeds work well

Note 3: you can use any liquid sweetener including coconut nectar, agave syrup or sugar-free Mon Fruit Syrup

Note 4: or lime juice, or skip but this ingredients prevent the bananas to darken the pudding later in the fridge

Note 5: Peel and roughly mash a large yellow banana on a plate. If there are black/brown spots on the flesh, discard them, or the pudding will turn very dark and brown. Transfer to a medium-size bowl and add maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and drippy peanut butter (if used). Stir until smooth, then add almond milk, chia seeds and stir vigorously to combine. Transfer to the glass mason jar, close the lid, and shake vigorously for a few seconds. Place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. After that time, open the lid and give a good stir with a fork. This step loosens the seeds and prevents the seeds from clumping together or migrating to the bottom of the jar.

Storage: store leftovers for up to 48 hours in the fridge in a closed, sealed jar. Note that the color of the pudding may darken with time.

 

Share on Facebook Pin Recipe

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 308.4kcal | Carbohydrates: 35.9g | Protein: 8.5g | Fat: 16.4g | Saturated Fat: 2.4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7.8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5.3g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Sodium: 236.3mg | Potassium: 450.4mg | Fiber: 10.4g | Sugar: 16.3g | Vitamin A: 56IU | Vitamin C: 8.2mg | Calcium: 309.1mg | Iron: 2.1mg | Magnesium: 119.3mg | Phosphorus: 252.6mg | Zinc: 1.6mg